


First Sparks

by kythen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternating Perspectives, Enemies(?) to Friends, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding, and also accidental voyeurism, attempts at action scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 19:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7905376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kythen/pseuds/kythen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shapeshifting AU. A territorial dispute between the crows and the cats, and its aftermath.</p><p>Alternatively, Daichi meets the new neighbours and Kuroo finds the hardest way to form a friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Sparks

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collab piece with the lovely [selpeda](http://selpeda.tumblr.com)! Please _PLEASE_ check out her art [here](http://selpeda.tumblr.com/post/149704666063/hqbb-2016-my-art-for-kythen-s-shapeshifterau)!
> 
> Beta-ed by the wonderful [commovente](http://archiveofourown.org/users/commovente)!

The forest is never still at night.

Daichi supposes that is what happens when half the people living here are nocturnal and the other half don't bother keeping to proper sleep schedules. There are always things moving around out there in the dark and tonight, Daichi happens to be one of them.

If he strains his eyes, he can just about make out the black on black outline of another crow in the tree across his, where Suga lays quietly in wait. Behind him, he knows that Nishinoya is perched on a branch in his human form, taking care to conceal himself behind the bulk of the tree trunk.

As crows, it was unusual for them to be out at night but for the sake of this, it was necessary. Kageyama had been the first one to bring it up, seeking Daichi out one day and asking him about the border markers separating the crows' territory from the cats'. Daichi had gone to check on them himself but he couldn't tell what was off about them. He had received more reports after that, all along the same lines as Kageyama's initial report, and they had come to the conclusion that the cats were shifting the border markers back into crow territory.

But they had no concrete evidence, not when every tree looked like each other in that stretch of the forest and nobody saw anything unusual happening along the border. So Daichi called for them to watch the border at night, which was why he was sitting in the same tree for the third night in a row with his feathers ruffled up to keep the cold out. On the first night, he had done this with Asahi and Kageyama, and on the second night with Tsukishima and Ennoshita. Nothing had happened then and tonight was shaping up to be just as uneventful. Daichi sighs, his talons scraping against bark as he inches closer to the tree trunk, meaning to lean his head on it.

The crunch of bracken underfoot snaps through the air and Daichi freezes mid-step. He turns his head slowly, squinting into the pitch dark under the trees, searching for moving shadows on the ground. There is absolute silence for a moment before Daichi hears an explosion of crushed leaves as a small, cat-shaped shadow expands into a much larger, human shape. Daichi twists his head, looking for Nishinoya, and Nishinoya nods, ready to carry out their plan of action. Suga is already looking his way when Daichi glances at him and he turns his attention back to the border.

A pair of eyes stare back at him from across the border, gleaming yellow in the dark, _knowing_.

"Shit." Daichi mutters under his breath.

Everything after that happens in a flash. Nishinoya caws once, the sound reverberating like a shockwave through the silence as he emerges from the tree with a flame torch in hand, thrusting the area around them into brightness. Daichi had shut his eyes the moment he heard Nishinoya's signal, opening them only after the light had spread out.

In the faint light of the flickering torch, he sees three cats at the border, two in their human form and one as a cat, all blinded the moment Nishinoya had brandished his torch. Daichi takes advantage of the split-second it gives them, slipping out of the tree and shifting into his human form, taking off the moment he hits the ground. He sees a flash of grey beside him as Suga breaks into a sprint, keeping up with him step for step as they make a lunge for the cats.

Daichi tackles one of them, locking their hands behind their back and forcing them facedown into the ground. Taken by surprise, the cat goes down without much resistance. There is another muffled thump as Suga takes down the other cat and Daichi raises his head to look for the last cat.

"Aw shit," the cat under him mumbles through a mouthful of leaves. "Yaku's gonna be mad."

"Damn right I am," the cat in Suga's custody grits out, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. "I'm not going to say I told you so but you better watch out after this, Kuroo."

"Well, let's all calm down first," says a voice from above them.

Daichi looks up to see a black cat balancing on a low-hanging tree branch. Having drawn everyone's attention, the cat leaps to the ground, landing lightly and shifting into his human form. As he rises from his crouch, the cat meets Daichi's eyes and the faintest trace of a smile flitters across his face, undaunted by the situation at hand. Even without an introduction, Daichi instinctively knows who this cat is.

Kuroo takes a step towards Daichi with his hands raised and Nishinoya hovers close, ready to tackle him if Daichi gives him the order to. Daichi stays on edge as Kuroo stops before him with an easy smile on his face, his posture completely relaxed.

His smile widens as Daichi meets his gaze head-on. "It's Sawamura, isn't it?"

"And you're Kuroo," Daichi replies, straightening up as Nishinoya takes his place. "Do you have an explanation for why you and your cats are here at this time of the night?"

"I don't suppose you would believe me if I said we were taking a walk, would you?"

"Try again." Daichi holds a hand out, showing Kuroo the border markers he had pried out of his captive's hand. They had come in at the right time, catching the cats in the very act of shifting the border markers.

"We can talk about this. Amicably. And preferably not on the backs of my tribemates." Kuroo nods towards the two cats pinned down on the forest ground.

"You do realise that you're in no position to be making demands, do you?" Daichi asks him incredulously. "We just caught you moving our border markers back."

"Are you sure we were moving the border markers? We could have just been replacing them with new ones and putting them back exactly where they were."

"I'm quite sure they weren't all the way back here last week."

"How can you be certain? I mean, all the trees look the same in this stretch of the forest," Kuroo says doubtfully, glancing around them.

"For crying out loud," the cat named Yaku mutters into the earth. "We're going to be here all night."

"So were you really shifting the borders back?" Suga asks Yaku curiously.

"We can neither confirm nor deny anything." Kuroo answers for him. Yaku rolls his eyes but he doesn't say anything after that.

Daichi's head is starting to hurt from prolonged exposure to Kuroo and from the look on Yaku's face, he guesses that this is not an uncommon effect of Kuroo. They were not getting anywhere like this, which was probably Kuroo's goal in the first place. Although Daichi tries not to show it on his face, he is tired and his body aches from sitting in the same tree for the third night in a row and he really does not want to be dealing with this right now.

"Suga, Nishinoya," Daichi turns his back on the massive problem before him, locking eyes with his tribe members instead. "We're taking them back with us."

The two cats on the ground look alarmed. Kuroo? Not so much, when Daichi braces himself and faces him again.

"And then? What happens after that?" Kuroo asks, almost unimpressed.

Daichi takes a step forward, trying not to mind the way he has to crane his neck to look Kuroo in the eye. "You're going to have to come and get them. You and your tribe. Tomorrow night. You know where our camp is, I suppose."

A smirk spreads across Kuroo's face, slow and sharp with delight as he says, "Are you challenging us to a fight, Sawamura?"

"You know the laws as well as I do." Daichi turns away from Kuroo, nodding at Suga and Nishinoya to start moving with the cats in their custody. "Better, seeing that you've been here longer than we have."

"So I do." Kuroo concedes, folding his arms over his chest, seemingly unconcerned about his tribemates being taken to a possibly hostile camp. He grins as Daichi steps away from him without another look, calling out a cheerful, "I'll see you tomorrow night then."

\---

Sawamura Daichi is a hundred and seventy-six centimetres of muscle, solid in a way that the punches he lands are heavy but flexible enough to twist away from the returning blows. He digs his bare heels into the ground and Kuroo follows the line of his calves up to his thighs, taking in the way the shadows cast by the fire trace the shifting muscles under his skin. Sawamura's eyes flash, warm brown turning into amber flint, the barest hint of a taunt behind them, and Kuroo has never been so enraptured.

There is a leg coming at him, high and fast, and Kuroo blocks it with a forearm, darting in to catch Sawamura while he is off balance. He seizes Sawamura by the shoulders, forcing his weight against him, and the both of them go down into the ground.

It is the last fight in a series of three and the cats had won one, the crows had won one, and it was all down to this final fight between Sawamura and him to decide the outcome of their territorial dispute. If Kuroo won, the crows would have to admit that the cats had done nothing wrong—even if they _had_ —and if Sawamura won, well, Kuroo would deal with it.

Kuroo looms over Sawamura, his claws raking teasingly close to the side of his face. Unfazed, Sawamura folds in his legs, places both feet squarely in the middle of Kuroo's stomach and lifts Kuroo clear of him in one fluid motion. The force of his kick sends Kuroo into the air and slams him back down in a cloud of dust. Kuroo lurches to his feet, just in time to block Sawamura as he charges at him, dropping back down to sweep Sawamura's feet out from under him.

Sawamura falls to the side, rolling away from Kuroo to avoid the possibility of another attack, but Kuroo is there to meet him, landing on him with his knees and forcing a forearm against Sawamura's throat. A wave of distressed noises rise from the crows' side of the ring, all varying in concern and loudness.

Kuroo leans over Sawamura, a smirk growing wide on his face, and Sawamura meets his gaze squarely. The amber is still there in his eyes and Kuroo's breath hitches in his throat. Then his knees hit the ground as Sawamura shifts into a crow, slipping out from under him in a flurry of feathers, and Kuroo barely manages to fall back in time as Sawamura lashes out with thorn-sharp talons.

One talon catches him on the forearm, drawing blood in a long, thin line across his skin. Kuroo narrows his eyes at the sting, the blood pounding in his ears and drowning out the heckling from his side of the ring. Sawamura had drawn first blood. It is a minor thing but the scent fills the air, clear enough for everyone present. The crows break into raucous caws of victory, overwhelming the cats on the opposite side.

The clash of noises spurs him into action and Kuroo leaps at the crow, shifting into a cat mid-flight. His claws catch on Sawamura's wings, tearing feathers from them before he loses his grip. From the air, Sawamura brandishes his talons at him in retaliation, dropping down in a deadly arc to rake at his back.

Sawamura misses as Kuroo throws himself out of the way and his talons catch on the edge of a pointed ear instead, nicking the delicate skin there. Determined to get him this time, Sawamura swerves back in a tight u-turn, only to find Kuroo back in his human form. As a human, Kuroo is too big a target to attack head-on in his crow form and Sawamura makes the split-second decision to shift back into a human again.

It works beautifully in his favour as the momentum he builds from his flight makes seventy kilograms of a very human Sawamura absolutely devastating when he crashes into Kuroo.

For a moment, the world around Kuroo goes white and blessedly quiet. He can't see or hear anything, not those crow hotheads nor his own cats. It is peaceful here in this void, unlike the fighting ring he had been in with Sawamura.

As abruptly as it had disappeared, the world reappears around him, centred around a heavy weight crushing his chest. Kuroo groans, the sound trapped under that weight as he finds his way back into consciousness. Amused eyes look back at him, dangerously close to his own, and Kuroo absently registers that they are a lovely shade of brown.

"Are you awake, Kuroo?" he hears Sawamura ask him, his tone deceptively sweet.

"Ask me again in a while," he rasps out.

"Goodnight, Kuroo." Sawamura says with faint laughter in his voice.

Kuroo opens his mouth to reply with a "Goodnight, Sawamura," of his own, only to find that the world has slipped away from him again.

\---

"Kuroo's out," Yaku declares, peeling back an eyelid to peer into Kuroo's eye. "You can get off him now," he tells Daichi, eyeing him with something closer to resignation than hostility.

Daichi complies, pushing himself off Kuroo and dropping onto the ground next to him. He won but he feels winded. The last collision had taken the air out of him and he had been lucky that Kuroo was the one who hit the ground first. Headfirst.

"Did you really have to punch him again?" Suga comes up beside him, shaking his head in mock admonishment. "I mean, he probably would have fainted again without the help."

"Had to be sure." Daichi shrugs, letting himself be pulled up by Suga.

The rest of the crows swarm around him, simultaneously holding him up and cramping his space. Hinata bounces excitedly under his ear, his previous loss forgotten as he squawks at Daichi. On the other side, Tanaka slaps him on the back heartily, forcing the air in Daichi's lungs out again. He can hear Nishinoya talking a mile a minute, his voice running over Asahi's quieter congratulations. The other crows are saying something too but it is lost amongst the absolute cacophony surrounding him.

Suga has Daichi's arm over his shoulder and he sounds worried as he starts with, "Daichi—"

"Sawamura." A crisp voice cuts through the noise and Daichi raises his head to look at the speaker.

The cats have gathered in a group before them, the second-in-command whom Daichi recognises as a cat called Kai standing at the head of them. At the back, he sees Kuroo still out cold on Yamamoto's back.

"On behalf of my tribe and my leader, I concede the disputed territory to you. The crows have won it from us fairly through combat," Kai says with a formality that Kuroo never had while talking to Daichi.

Daichi inclines his head, removing his arm from Suga's hold and shooing the other crows out of the way to stand before Kai. "Thank you. We will be reclaiming the disrupted territory, although the cats are welcome to visit us if they wish. I understand that some of my crows have formed friendships with your cats." He directs his gaze towards Hinata, who had made a beeline for Kenma as soon as the cats had approached.

"Thank you for your generosity."

"Also," Daichi's eyes flicker towards Kuroo. "I would like to apologise for any excessive, uh, violence against your leader."

Kai looks surprised. "No apologies are needed. We all understand that it was a crucial fight. Besides," he hesitates, his eyes darting towards Kuroo briefly. "He probably brought this upon himself."

With that, the cats leave, disappearing into the trees along the edge of camp. Daichi watches them go, turning back to address his own crows and finding that his legs have lost all their strength. Suga and Asahi catch him before his legs give way and he lets himself sag against them.

"You have to rest, Daichi," Suga murmurs. Around them, the crowd disperses as Ennoshita herds the younger crows away.

"I'm so tired," he tells them. "Why am I so tired?"

"Kuroo's a difficult opponent," Asahi says. "I'm not sure any of us could have taken him on except for you."

Daichi musters up just enough strength to kick him in the shin. "You big wimp. You could have taken him on."

Asahi winces but he doesn't let go of Daichi. "I'd rather not."

Between the two of them, they half-carry Daichi back to his tent. Suga lays out his sleeping mat on the ground and the both of them ease Daichi onto it. The moment Daichi's head touches his pillow, the last of his adrenaline wears off and he is gone.

He doesn't wake until the next day when the sunlight comes through the open flap of his tent and hits him right in the face. Daichi grunts, turning his face away from the light. The tent flap should have been shut and Daichi should have been able to sleep for a while longer before facing his responsibilities but there are voices coming through the mouth of his tent which keep him from going back to sleep.

Shadows shift over him and even with his eyes shut, Daichi senses them approaching. He opens his eyes and Hinata jumps back, colliding with Kageyama in a flurry of squawks. Crow feathers spring up on the top of his head, standing out against the bright orange of his hair and falling to the ground as he shakes, scattering Daichi with a rain of black feathers.

Daichi sits up with a sigh, ignoring the way his bones creak and crack in his back as he brushes the feathers off him. His body feels like a big mass of bruises, starting from his back and spreading down to his arms and legs. Everything aches and all he wants to do is go back to sleep.

"What is it?" Daichi croaks, wincing at how hoarse his voice sounds.

"I'm sorry for waking you, leader, but the cats are back," Hinata rattles off nervously.

That catches Daichi's attention and he frowns. "What do they want?"

"We don't know. Suga's with them now. He told us to get you."

Daichi stands, stretching out his sore muscles as he gets to his feet. Hinata and Kageyama rise with him, hovering close, and Daichi reaches out to ruffle their heads. "Got it. I'll be out immediately."

Flanked by the both of them, Daichi steps out of his tent and sees the problem immediately. As Hinata had said, the cats are back, standing in the middle of their camp and blocked by Suga, Asahi, and a small group of crows. Daichi marches over, squaring out his shoulders, ready for a fight if the cats were here for one.

Suga and Asahi look up as he approaches and so does Kuroo, his eyes lighting up as he catches sight of Daichi.

"Sawamura. Nice of you to show up," Kuroo says, greeting him with a smirk.

"What's going on?" Daichi asks Suga, his eyes not leaving Kuroo.

Suga shrugs. "You left an open invitation for the cats and they took you up on it. Kuroo says he wants to talk."

"About what?"

"About last night, for instance," Kuroo interjects. "Those were some great fights."

Daichi furrows his eyebrows at him, trying to figure out if Kuroo was mocking him. "They were."

"And some lasting friendships were formed through those fights," Kuroo continues, his gaze flitting behind Daichi.

Daichi doesn't need to look to know that Hinata is gone, probably gone to find Kenma again. Or Inuoka, who had been his opponent during last night's fight. Behind Kuroo, Daichi sees Tanaka reunite with Yamamoto, pulling Nishinoya along with him into their circle.

"And?" Daichi crosses his arms, waiting for Kuroo to get to the point. "Why are you here?"

Kuroo looks affronted. "We fought yesterday. Doesn't that make us friends too?"

"Does it?" Daichi turns to Suga, who shrugs at him, the corners of his lips twitching.

"It does," Kuroo assures him and beside him, Yaku snorts. "So to commemorate our newly formed friendship I've come over to give my greetings."

"Didn't you get knocked out last night?" Daichi raises an eyebrow. "How resilient are you if you're already out and about?"

"You'll be surprised." Kuroo smiles and Daichi narrows his eyes at him. He is not in the mood to deal with this now.

"He's barely standing," Yaku says, stepping in and driving an elbow into Kuroo's ribs. Kuroo hisses, his face twisting in pain. "We had to drag his sorry ass through the forest last night and then back again this morning because he wanted to see you, Sawamura."

"You should get some rest. You know, back at your own camp," Daichi tells Kuroo unsympathetically. If it had not been for Kuroo and his cats, Daichi could be taking his own advice and still be asleep in his tent.

"Yeah, no, we're not dragging him back right after we arrived, leader or not." Yaku sighs. "Sorry, Sawamura, but could you take him in for a while? We'll leave at sunset."

Daichi wants to refuse, he really does, but he has not had a proper night's sleep in four nights, one of which he had spent locked in combat with the very person in front of him, and he just doesn't have the energy to argue with them.

Suga steps forward with his best diplomatic face and says, "Of course. After all, our leader did welcome the cats to our camp and it is our responsibility to ensure that your visit is a pleasant one."

Daichi blanches inwardly, keeping his face straight as Kuroo grins weakly at him. Honestly, this whole situation is ridiculous. While Daichi had given his permission for the cats to visit if they liked, he had not expected them to take it up so soon or for almost all of the cats to show up. He had not expected _Kuroo_ of all people to show up.

But Kuroo is drooping, leaning heavily on Yaku after taking his elbow to the ribs. His breathing is laboured and there is a purple bruise blooming beautifully against the side of his face, exactly where Daichi had punched him last night.

Daichi stifles a sigh. Then he turns and beckons for the cats to follow him.

\---

Sawamura looks tired, as he should be after that fight last night. There are dark shadows under his eyes and his hair is disheveled, a stray crow feather sticking out at an angle from it. But Sawamura stands straight as he talks Kuroo down, his eyes wary, his strides steady as he leads the way into the camp.

Kuroo had not been lying when he said it was a great match. Despite being new to the forest, Sawamura is strong and so are the other crows, and Kuroo is sure that he was not the only one who had gained a newfound respect for them after last night.

Sawamura stops right outside a tent, motioning for Kuroo to follow him as he ducks into it. They had lost their entourage on the way here, leaving Kuroo with just Sawamura and Yaku, the latter of which grumbles as he hauls Kuroo through the mouth of the tent.

There is already a sleeping mat laid out on the ground, crow feathers scattered all over the tangle of cloth, and Sawamura crouches down to straighten it out. The feathers fly as Sawamura snaps the cloth in the air before laying it flat on the ground. The rolled up cloth that serves as a pillow goes back on the top of it and Sawamura steps back, glancing pointedly in their direction.

Yaku doesn't need to be told twice, dragging Kuroo to the sleeping mat and dumping him on it unceremoniously. "Thanks, Sawamura. We'll come and pick him up later."

Yaku is gone by the time Kuroo rolls over, his back disappearing through the open mouth of the tent. Left to himself, Kuroo snuggles into the folds of cloth, making himself comfortable before settling in and he looks up to see Sawamura scowling down at him.

"What?" he asks as Sawamura sits on the ground next to him and tugs at the wrinkled edges of the sleeping mat.

"Why did I even bother?" Sawamura mutters as he makes a last ditch attempt to smooth out the cloth before giving up entirely. He starts to stand and Kuroo makes a grab for his arm, his fingers closing around Sawamura's forearm.

"What?" Sawamura says, startled and more than a bit annoyed even as he sits right back down.

Kuroo lets go of him. He feels guilty, sort of, about keeping Sawamura here when he looks ready to keel over himself. But Kuroo had not dragged himself through the forest to lie down and do nothing when he could have done that back at his own camp and spared himself from Yaku.

"Thanks, Sawamura," Kuroo says. "You really didn't have to do this. Despite what Yaku says, I'll live."

"You're right, I don't," Sawamura says curtly, folding his arms over his chest. "But I do remember beating the life out of you last night so maybe you want to lie down for a while longer before you say that."

Kuroo lies back down, a grin tugging at a corner of his lips. "You fight meaner than you look, Sawamura."

"Maybe you're just a huge pushover, Kuroo."

"I distinctly remember pinning you down more than once last night so you might want to rethink who's the pushover in this tent."

"No, I'm pretty sure I know who the pushover is." Sawamura leans over, tapping the bruise on Kuroo's cheek hard and making him flinch. "Or do _you_ need a reminder?"

Sawamura is not quite smiling but the suspicious look in his eyes is gone, replaced by something warmer, a lot like laughter. Kuroo likes it, likes the way Sawamura looks when he isn't about to beat the living daylights out of Kuroo. Sawamura has nice eyes, clear and brown, fierce in a fight and warm when he is around his crows. They are enthralling, much like the person himself, and Kuroo remembers why he had dragged himself back through the forest again.

Aloud, Kuroo says, "Okay, I concede, if only to stop you from ruining my face any more."

"See? Pushover." Sawamura straightens back up, flashing Kuroo a triumphant smile, and Kuroo tries not to mind the way his heart skips a beat in his chest. Maybe Sawamura is right and he is dying.

Kuroo closes his eyes, taking inventory of every bruised part of himself. It smells warm all around him, the usual scents of the forest mingling with the unique scent within the folds of the cloth. It is strangely soothing for something so unfamiliar and Kuroo's head goes hazy with sleep as he relaxes into place.

Sawamura is still there when Kuroo cracks open an eyelid, his face listless, angled down so that his gaze rests on Kuroo without really looking at him.

"Something on your mind, Sawamura?" Kuroo asks.

Sawamura blinks and he pauses, taking a moment to consider Kuroo's question seriously. "Why did you shift the borders back? It's not like the cats are short on territory."

 _Ah._ "That's just something I do with Bokuto."

"Bokuto?" Sawamura frowns, trying to place that name. "The owl tribe leader."

"That's him. Shifting borders is just one of the games I like to play with him. We just move the border markers around until one of us notices."

Sawamura's eyebrows rise. "Did you both agree on that or is it another one-sided thing on your part?"

Kuroo grins. "He figured it out. We fought too and now we're friends."

"That's nice."

"Are we friends yet, Sawamura?"

"No," Sawamura says instantly.

Kuroo pouts, tracking Sawamura with his eyes as Sawamura stands and makes his way across the tent to leave. This time, Kuroo makes no move to stop him, too comfortable in his nest of cloth to even move at all, but he calls out in a half-hearted effort to get him to stay, "Going back to your own tent, Sawamura? I thought you were going to keep me company."

Half out of the tent, Sawamura looks back and raises an eyebrow at him. "I thought we just established that we aren't friends. I'm not obliged to watch over you while you sleep."

With that, he drops the flap over the open mouth of the tent, leaving Kuroo in the semi-darkness.

\---

In the days after their confrontation with the cats, Daichi sees new faces all around camp. The borders were easy to cross after all, when the border markers were nothing more than simple knots of grass and feathers tied to a row of trees. It was no wonder the cats managed to get away with what they did for as long as they did.

The borders were more of a formality than anything but it is comforting having a place in the forest to call theirs. Back in the old forest, the tribes had grown too big too fast and there had no longer been enough forest to go around. Daichi and his crows had made the move across the mountains late but there had been ample space for them to mark out their territory and set up camp in this forest, which was teeming with tribes that had branched out long before them.

As Daichi steps out of his tent for the day, he checks his bag, full of knotted grass and feathers he had been working on the whole morning. It was about time to renew the border markers around their territory and he was going to check their positions while he was at it, particularly those along the borders they shared with the cats and owls.

A flash of silver catches Daichi's eye on his way out and he turns his head to see Lev lope into their camp, his hands and feet scrambling in the earth as he shifts from his cat to human form. Behind him, another cat emerges from the undergrowth, cautiously placing his paws one at a time in front of him.

"Hello!" Lev calls out brightly in Daichi's direction and Daichi smiles at him.

"Hello," Kenma says from behind Lev, shaking a leaf out from his hair.

"Here to see Hinata?" Daichi asks them.

"Yessir!" Lev answers.

Right on cue, a crow drops out of the air, cawing excitedly as he lands between Daichi and the cats. Lev's grin widens in recognition and even Kenma cracks a small smile as the crow's form wavers and blurs.

Daichi leaves them to Hinata, stepping out of camp and retracing the cats' path back to their shared border. It is the height of summer, which means that it is _hot_ and Daichi stays within the shade of the trees, keeping his feet away from the sun-baked patches of ground.

He is already in his lightest clothes but the feathered bands clustered around his arms and neck stick to his skin uncomfortably. They were gifts from his tribemates, each band from a different group of crows, and Daichi wears them fondly. But when he picks at the feathers around his neck, a few flutter off, wilting in the heat. After months of constant wear, it was inevitable and Daichi resolves to ask them to make him a new one.

At the border, Daichi drops his bag on the ground, shifting and flying up to the branches to check that the markers were where they were supposed to be. He loosens the knots keeping the crow markers secured to the branches, letting the withered grass and feathers fall to the ground before he grabs the new ones from his bag.

It is simple work and Daichi shifts between forms easily, using his wings to get him up onto a branch and his hands to secure the crow markers next to the ones the cats had put up. He moves along the border, repeating the same steps over and over again until he reaches the end of it.

The next part of the forest slopes up into higher ground, leading into owl territory, and Daichi checks the border markers accordingly. Here, the ground gives way to a short cliff, overhanging a small body of water located at the intersection of all three borders. This was neutral ground for any of the three tribes around it but hardly anyone came all the way out here when there were other water sources closer to camp.

Done with this part of the border, Daichi doubles back down the cliff, skirting the edge of the water. It was just deep enough to be called a lake, partially tucked under the shadows of the overhanging cliff and the sunlight glancing off the rest of it. Daichi crouches at the edge of it and sinks his hands in, sighing in relief as the heat leeches off him.

The water is blissfully cool, especially against the summer heat Daichi had been trekking through, and Daichi contemplates plunging his whole body into it. Technically, there is nothing stopping him from doing just that and Daichi finds himself lowering his bag to the ground. The trees around him are quiet and Daichi glances around quickly before he peels off his feathered bands and tugs off his shirt and pants.

He leaves them in a neat pile at the edge as he heads into the lake, shivering as plunges his head into the water, finally escaping the stifling heat.

\---

"Has anyone seen Lev?"

"Nope," Kuroo answers.

"Not since this morning," Kai says.

Yaku scowls and Kuroo would feel sorry for Lev but he supposes that Lev probably deserves it. Again.

"Shifting practice?" Kuroo ventures, craning his neck to look at Yaku from his position on the ground. He sits in the middle of camp, holding onto one end of a massive sheet of canvas while Kai patches it up.

"He's the one who asked for my help and he isn't even here," Yaku grits out. "If you find him, grab him because I swear today is the day that I'll skin that cat."

Kuroo grins. "You say that every time but Lev is still walking free and furry."

"Not today. I _swear_..." Yaku throws his arms out in exasperation, his movements taut as he stalks out of camp.

Kuroo has a pretty good idea of where Lev would be after that entire fiasco with the crows and he guesses that Yaku does too, given the direction he is heading in.

"Should we be giving the crows a heads up?" Kuroo asks Kai. "It's not going to be pretty when he finds Lev."

"You could go," Kai says pleasantly, his hands steady as he weaves a needle in and out of the canvas, drawing the torn edges back together with neat stitches. "You haven't been there since the day after our fight with the crows."

Kuroo squints at Kai, trying to figure out if he was trying to get at something. With Yaku, it was much easier when the jibes came straight at him, brutal and blunt but still manageable. Kai, on the other hand, was an enigma. It was like someone decided to make Kuroo's conscience into a person and that person was Kai. While he made for a good second-in-command, he also made Kuroo feel like he was constantly guilty of something even in the few times that he _wasn't_.

"I'm going to take a walk," Kuroo announces abruptly, handing over his end of the canvas to Kai.

"Have a safe trip." Kai takes the canvas from Kuroo, pulling the thread tight and knotting it without looking up.

Kuroo flees into the forest, keeping his strides wide and unhurried, completely nonchalant, until he is a way away from camp. From there, he doesn't even need to pretend to be taking a stroll. It is a nice sunny day, if not a bit hot for a walk, and Kuroo lets himself wander, taking in the fresh green scents of the forest.

His feet take him to the border they share with the crows without thinking and Kuroo decides against crossing it, even though the cats and the crows were on tentatively friendly terms now. Sawamura seems fine with the cats coming and going into their camp but Kuroo remembers the wariness Sawamura had regarded him with when he visited him the day after the fight. Granted, Sawamura had every reason to after what Kuroo pulled but Kuroo just wishes that they would make the transition into friends quickly. With Bokuto, it had been almost instantaneous after Bokuto beat his face into the dirt and then pulled him up with a grin. But Bokuto was, well, _Bokuto_ and Sawamura was obviously made of very different stuff from him.

Kuroo glances up at the border markers, which were back to their originally agreed upon places after the dispute was resolved. The crows' markers were freshly changed, their woven grass and feathers knotted tightly around each branch. Beside them, the cats' markers were looking a little worse for wear, the braided hemp still holding tight but worn and tattered in places. He would have to make new ones soon.

Kuroo walks along the border, picking out every tree with a border marker. There is a familiar scent in the air, not cat, but warm and woody and oddly familiar. Kuroo has not been in the crow camp enough times to separate their individual scents yet and he wonders if all crows smell like that or just that particular crow.

It is owl territory up ahead and Kuroo considers veering up and in to check what Bokuto was doing for the day. But the scent thickens and he swivels his face, idly tracking it. The source of the scent is close and Kuroo pauses to taste the air. It is coming from upwind and Kuroo creeps through the bit of forest separating the crow and him, keeping his footfalls light and slow. It was definitely a crow and they were always fun to startle.

Then the scent shifts, smelling of water, and Kuroo remembers the lake up ahead and the implications of what that could mean too late as he clears the last of the trees and breaks into open ground. The clothes on the ground catch his eye first and the guilt lurches in Kuroo's gut as his gaze travels upwards to the lake. He should leave, leave now, but he had made the first mistake of looking and the second mistake of recognising who that was in the lake.

It's Sawamura, of course it's Sawamura of all people Kuroo could have chosen to walk in on.

There is a brief moment where Sawamura does not register Kuroo's presence, his face turned to the sun as he soaks in the deeper part of the lake. The water ripples around him as he treads water, his arms cutting through the surface at a lazy pace. He looks peaceful, the lines in his face smoothed out, every inch of him relaxed up until the very moment he opens his eyes and sees Kuroo.

Kuroo startles, his heels scrabbling against the ground as he tries to backtrack into the trees, and Sawamura sinks, the water splashing up all around him as he splutters. Flinging himself forward, Kuroo darts to the edge of the lake, frantically praying that he had not accidentally drowned Sawamura.

The surface of the lake breaks, much closer to Kuroo this time, and Sawamura emerges, blinking water out of his eyes as he searches the ground just beyond the lake. His face flares red as he sees Kuroo still standing there and Kuroo straightens up self-consciously. He had missed his chance to escape while Sawamura had been underwater.

"What are you doing here, Kuroo?" Sawamura finds his footing and stands, wiping at his eyes and running a hand through his hair. Standing upright, the water reaches up to his waist, leaving his torso exposed, and Kuroo tries not to stare.

He remembers Sawamura in a fight, the lines of his body shifting in the firelight as he moved, but Kuroo's self-preservation had been in charge then and he had been doing less looking and more getting out of the way. Now, he stares, blatantly so, running his eyes down the blush spreading across Sawamura's skin, taking in the way the water curves along the dip in his collarbone and down his chest in rivulets. An arm cuts through the flow of water and then another as Sawamura folds both arms against his chest. Kuroo's eyes snap back up to Sawamura's face and Sawamura is scowling.

"Kuroo," Sawamura repeats, more forcefully this time.

"Hey. Sawamura," Kuroo says, trying for casual, like he only just noticed Sawamura standing there. "I, uh, what was the question again?"

Sawamura sighs and takes a step forward. The water breaks against his hips, the tiny waves dipping low, and Kuroo swivels around on his heel, diverting his gaze into the trees. It was probably a bad move, given that all that staring must have offended Sawamura and Sawamura could very well take him down now that Kuroo had his back to him.

A spray of water hits the back of his legs and Kuroo whips around reflexively, only to see a crow looking up at him reproachfully. Sawamura spreads his wings and flicks the water off, very deliberately hitting Kuroo with every droplet that flies off his feathers. It is not an attack, or at least the kind that warrants a proper defence, and Kuroo turns back again to give Sawamura his privacy.

He hears wet footsteps plod against the earth and the sound of cloth rustling as Sawamura asks again, "So what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for Lev," Kuroo says, half-truthfully.

The rustling stops and Kuroo sneaks a glance behind him. Sawamura is fully dressed, tugging his shirt down over his stomach and stooping to pick up the feathered bands on the ground.

"Lev?" Sawamura echoes, putting on his feathered bands one at a time. "He's back at camp with Kenma and Hinata."

"Ah." Kuroo fights back a grin, thinking of the faces Kenma had probably pulled at Lev all the way there. "Kenma won't like that."

"He didn't look all that happy until Hinata showed up."

"Lev probably tagged along when Kenma was trying to sneak away. Yaku's actually looking for him. Lev, that is. He's skipping out on shifting practice."

"Is he?" Sawamura raises an eyebrow at him and Kuroo reads an accusation in his gaze, saying something about wayward young cats and their irresponsible leaders. He ignores it.

"He is. Yaku's gone to find him and he isn't too happy with him."

Sawamura slings his bag over a shoulder and Kuroo sees the crow markers peeking out from under its flap. So Sawamura had been the one replacing the border markers. The scent Kuroo had been tracking all the way from the border lingers in the air, dampened by the lake but there nonetheless. It is the same one from the tent, Kuroo realises, woven between the folds of the sleeping mat he had rested on.

"Come on then." Sawamura walks past him, heading straight for the trees.

"Huh?" Kuroo follows after him, falling into step with him.

"You're heading to our camp to find Lev, aren't you?" Sawamura glances over at him. "I'm going back too."

"Are you done replacing the border markers already?" Kuroo asks, eyeing the bag against Sawamura's back, still full of grass and feather knots.

"I can finish up later. For now, I feel like I should be there to prevent a disaster from happening in my camp."

"My bad." Kuroo grins, unrepentant.

"It's definitely your fault here. They're your cats."

"I feel terrible." Kuroo presses a hand to his heart, putting on his most sincere face. "Can I make it up to you later? How about I help with replacing your border markers?"

Sawamura doesn't quite roll his eyes at him but he comes close. "How about you look after your border markers first? They look like they're about to fall apart."

"What a coincidence. I was thinking of replacing them later," Kuroo says without missing a beat. "Or tomorrow. Whenever you're free, that is."

Sawamura blinks back at him, incredulous. Then he ducks his head and snorts. He fights back a smile but it breaks loose around the edges of his mouth as he says, "What?"

It is infectious and Kuroo breaks into a winning grin. "You know, that's what friends do. We hang out together, change our border markers together..."

"Oh no, not this again." Sawamura quickens his pace, trying to get away from Kuroo.

But Kuroo sees a flash of a smile on his face before he passes him and he widens his strides to keep up. Unlike the first time he brought it up, Sawamura isn't flat-out denying it this time and Kuroo thinks that it makes for pretty good progress.

\---

Even at night, the summer heat feels unbearable. It hangs heavy over camp, a suffocating pressure concentrated in a single tent at the edge of the camp grounds. There is sickness in the air tonight, now shut in a tent with five of his crows, and Daichi can't sleep again. He paces the ground right outside the tent, throwing an occasional glance over at the closed tent flap.

He feels sick, not in the literal sense, but with worry. Shimizu had warned them that this might happen after their move to this forest and they had gone through a month and a half without incident, building their stores up in the meantime, only for three of them to come down with sudden high temperatures in a day.

Yachi had fallen sick first, followed by Yamaguchi and Asahi over the course of the day and Shimizu had made the decision to isolate them from the rest of the camp then. Suga had joined her to look after the three of them and Daichi has not seen them leave the tent for the entire day.

The tent flap rustles and Suga emerges, his face drawn tight and pale. His hair is matted to his forehead with perspiration and he sweeps it away with a distracted hand, moving unseeingly past Daichi. He looks exhausted and Daichi imagines that Shimizu probably looks the same, still cooped up in the tent with the sick crows. Daichi catches Suga by the sleeve and Suga's gaze shifts over to him, surprised, like he had not noticed Daichi standing there.

"How are they?" Daichi asks.

Suga grimaces. "Bad. Their temperatures are too high and still rising. Yamaguchi hasn't stopped coughing. His throat is probably infected."

"Will it spread?"

"That's why we're keeping them confined to the med tent," Suga says, eyeing him reproachfully. "You shouldn't be sticking so close, Daichi."

"The same goes for Shimizu and you," Daichi retorts. "I know it can't be helped but the both of you should get some rest at least. If you exhaust yourselves, you're just as vulnerable to falling sick as any of us."

Suga sighs. "You're right, but if we don't keep a close eye on them, they're only going to get worse. Maybe even more crows might get sick. It's a small camp, Daichi, and we can't risk that."

"Can we do anything to help?" Daichi asks. It seems unfair to ask, not when Suga and Shimizu were already doing their best, but he feels helpless in this situation. His knowledge of plants and herbs was nowhere as extensive as theirs and they had barred him from helping—from coming anywhere close to the tent in fact. That they stopped chasing him away only meant that things had worsened.

"I was actually about to go over to the storage tent. We've been using yarrow for fever and peppermint to soothe them but if they're showing signs of infection we might need purple coneflowers." Suga looks troubled. "But I don't think we have enough left. We used it all on Hinata after moving over."

"Then I'll go out and look for it." Daichi says firmly.

"You won't be able to find it in the dark." Suga frowns at him.

"We could ask the other tribes," a voice chimes in and they both jump, turning to see Hinata standing there with a makeshift tray of food in his hands. He holds it out to Suga. "Ennoshita made this for Shimizu and you. He said that he and Narita are coming over to help so the both of you should get some rest."

Daichi shoots Suga a meaningful look and Suga takes the tray from Hinata, making a face back at Daichi. To Hinata, Suga says, "That's a pretty good idea. If they had some to spare, it would be much better than waiting until morning. Who do you have in mind? The cats?"

"And the bears," Hinata adds, his face lighting up at Suga's approval. "I'll go over and ask them now!"

Daichi grabs him by the back of his collar before he dashes off. "Hold on, I'm not letting you go by yourself. Have you even been in bear territory?"

"Sure, lots of times." Hinata nods. "Aone's nice and while he doesn't talk much, we often hang out together."

 _Did you know that he was doing that?_ Daichi mouths over at Suga and Suga shrugs, shaking his head. Aloud, Daichi says to Hinata, "Go with someone just in case. Get Tanaka before leaving for bear territory and be careful. I'll go over to the cats."

"Got it!" Hinata's nodding intensifies and Daichi lets go of him.

Daichi turns to Suga. "Get some rest. Both Shimizu and you. Let Ennoshita and Narita take over for a while."

"Fine." Suga relents reluctantly, his eyes straying to the tray of food. "Be careful too, Daichi."

Daichi nods, shifting on the spot. He pushes off from the ground with his wings, taking to the skies and heading east, going by memory rather than sight to take him into cat territory. Over the past weeks, he has been to the cat camp a handful of times, mostly to retrieve Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Hinata, and he dips lower, skimming the treetops as he closes in on its approximate location. He dives through the cover of leaves, dropping to the ground right on the edge of camp and shifting as he lands, the momentum of his flight sending him into the camp grounds.

It is night but there are still cats out and about. Two of them sit in the clearing, startling at his sudden appearance, and Daichi recognises Kenma and the other cat—Fukunaga?

"I'll go get Kuroo," Kenma says quietly, slipping away from the clearing, and Daichi is not sure if he was addressing him or Fukunaga.

Fukunaga approaches him, just as quietly as Kenma had gone, his wide eyes curious as he takes in Daichi's disheveled appearance.

"Are you okay?" Fukunaga asks softly and Daichi realises that he has never heard him speak before.

Daichi nods, trying to catch his breath from his rushed flight over.

"Sawamura?" Kuroo arrives, looking fresh and awake like he hadn't been sleeping at all. He probably hadn't, knowing his nocturnal tendencies. "What's wrong?"

"I need to ask you for a favour," Daichi tells him, his words coming out in a rush. "Do you have any coneflowers in camp?"

"Coneflowers?" Kuroo trades a look with Kenma. "Is someone sick?"

"Three crows." Daichi answers, thinking of Yachi, Yamaguchi, and Asahi back at camp.

Some of his worry must show on his face because Kuroo trades another look with Kenma and Kenma motions to Fukunaga and the both of them dart back into camp.

"Is it bad?" Kuroo asks, his eyes concerned as he looks over Daichi.

"Shimizu and Suga have it contained but those who are sick aren't doing so well."

"They'll recover quickly. They have you and the rest of the crows looking after them after all," Kuroo tells him confidently. He is trying to make him feel better and Daichi appreciates that, returning the small smile Kuroo directs his way.

"We're out." Kenma returns with Fukunaga, directing his gaze down into the ground when Daichi looks over at him. "I'm sorry."

Disappointment wells up in Daichi and he fights to keep it down, giving them a reassuring smile as he says, "It's alright. Thank you for looking."

Daichi runs a hand through his hair, steeling himself for another flight, maybe to the north where the owls are, and a feather gets caught between his fingers. It drifts to the ground as it comes loose and Daichi feels eyes on him, glancing up just as Kuroo raises his eyes from where he had been tracking the feather's descent.

"You know," Kuroo says slowly, "The owls might have some. Bokuto is prone to falling sick in summer—or overheating in general—so Akaashi always makes sure to keep their stock of medicine up."

"I was thinking of going over there," Daichi admits. "Hinata and Tanaka are over at the bears and I'm hoping that they'll be able to get some from them. But just in case, I want to try the owls too."

"Great. I'm coming with you," Kuroo says, stretching out his arms and moving on to his legs. "Don't fight me on this, Sawamura. You want your crows to recover fast, don't you? " Kuroo adds as Daichi opens his mouth to do precisely that. "You've probably never been in owl territory before and you won't know your way around. I've been there loads of times _and_ the owls know me."

Daichi closes his mouth. Kuroo has a point there and even if Daichi won't admit it out loud, it is comforting to have company instead of stumbling around in the dark by himself.

Seeing that Daichi had stopped objecting, Kuroo heads to the edge of camp, toeing the tree line as he says, "Ready to run?"

Beyond the dim circle of light that the campfire puts out, the forest is dark. The moon is out but it barely filters through the thick cover of leaves, illuminating the depths of the forest in muted colours. Kuroo stands with his back to the trees, his eyes catching the firelight as he looks expectantly at Daichi. His figure blends in with the foliage and Daichi thinks that if he takes his eyes off him, he would lose him in the night.

Kuroo belongs to this time of the forest, thrives in it even, and Daichi does not. But still, Daichi takes a deep breath and walks towards him, determined to get this done.

"Let's go," he says and Kuroo turns to lead him as they plunge into the forest.

\---

They don't quite run, not when he can sense Sawamura's uncertainty about moving around at night, but Kuroo thinks that they make it to owl territory in good time. It is late but Kuroo has no fears about waking anyone as they approach the owl camp. He walks right in where Sawamura hangs back and cups his hands around his mouth.

"Bokuto—"

Kuroo doesn't have the time to duck before a mass of feathers flies straight into his face. He hisses and he thinks he hears a hoot reverberate in his skull as he plunges his fingers into the feathers and pulls the clinging mass off his head. It flaps vigorously in his hands, its wings hitting him around the head, and Kuroo drops it just as its shape wavers and blurs, reforming into a human.

"Kuroo!" Bokuto crows in delight, his eyes darting to Sawamura. "And, uh, the crow guy?"

"Sawamura," Sawamura says, looking between Kuroo and Bokuto warily as if expecting Bokuto to fly at him next.

Bokuto beams at him. "Heya, Sawamura. What brings you here? And with Kuroo?" He cocks his head to the side as if just noticing that the both of them had arrived together.

"I need to ask you for a favour," Sawamura says, easing up once he figures that Bokuto probably isn't going to jump him. "Some of my crows are sick and we've run out of coneflowers. We were hoping that your camp might have some and that you could spare some if possible."

"Oh man, that sounds bad." Bokuto's smile drops. He swivels around in one quick turn, facing the camp as he calls out, "Akaashi! Hey, _Akaashi!_ "

"Akaashi!" an exasperated voice echoes from somewhere inside the camp, followed by another voice, "You better get out there before Bokuto wakes the whole forest."

"Akaashi!" Bokuto trills.

Kuroo shuffles over to Sawamura's side and nudges him with an elbow. "This is normal, trust me."

"I figured." Sawamura looks torn between horror and fascination as a whole relay of hoots travel across camp, all addressing Akaashi.

"Bokuto." A voice cuts through the noise as the owl himself appears, stalking across camp to place himself right in front of them. "Please shut up."

"Akaashi!" Bokuto brightens up as the camp falls silent again. "Just the owl I was looking for."

"Evidently," Akaashi says dryly. "What is it?"

"Do we have any coneflowers left?"

Akaashi's gaze sweeps over Kuroo and rests momentarily on Sawamura before he answers, "Yes, we do."

"Can we give Sawamura some? He has sick crows."

Akaashi nods, catching on to the urgency of the situation and heading back into camp briskly. It doesn't take long before he returns with a package in hand, wrapped neatly with overlapping fronds of leaves. He holds it out to Sawamura and Sawamura takes it from him, relief washing over his face.

"Thank you," Sawamura says, addressing both Akaashi and Bokuto.

"You're welcome. Do you need anything else?" Akaashi asks.

"I think that's all. We've been treating them with what we have."

"I hope they recover soon," Akaashi says.

"I know you have to get back now but come over again sometime soon." Bokuto interjects, propping his hands on his hips. "I don't think I've met any crows since you guys moved in. And you're already friends with Kuroo? That's definitely unfair."

"You're just not proactive enough," Kuroo tells him, smirking.

"I'm _plenty_ active." Bokuto squints at him. "Oh wait, did you do the border thing again?"

"He did," Sawamura says dryly, giving Kuroo a flat look.

"I hope you beat him up," Bokuto tells him solemnly.

"He did," Kuroo says, just as solemnly.

Bokuto flashes a thumbs up at Sawamura.

"Let's get going." Kuroo herds Sawamura away. "See you around, Bokuto."

"Soon!" Bokuto calls after them.

On their way back, Sawamura picks up the pace, matching Kuroo step for step, fuelled by his sense of urgency and a growing confidence about navigating the dark. In turn, Kuroo pulls ahead, going faster and faster until they are both running back through the forest. He keeps his strides wide, weaving around the trees easily and keeping to the open ground when he can, where the trees are sparse enough that the moonlight shines through.

"Kuroo, you don't have to come with me all the way back to camp," Sawamura says, coming up beside Kuroo as they cross into crow territory. "I can take it from here. You should be getting back to your own camp."

Kuroo had half-expected that, given Sawamura's insistence about doing everything himself, and he bumps his shoulder against Sawamura's. "I've already come this far so I might as well see it through. Besides, you crows have terrible night vision."

"It's not _that_ bad," he hears Sawamura mutter mutinously as he falls behind again.

At the first scent of crow, Kuroo halts and Sawamura runs into his back with a muffled "oof". As Sawamura peels himself off his back and looks at him questioningly, Kuroo raises his nose to the wind and sniffs. A pungent smell drifts over on the next breeze, carrying with it the nauseatingly sweet smell of sickness, and Kuroo slaps a hand over his nose and mouth.

"Your camp is up ahead," Kuroo says, waving Sawamura away with a hand as he starts towards him. "You better get that to them.”

Sawamura hesitates, looking like he wants to say something. But then he decides against it, nodding to Kuroo and darting off in the direction of his camp.

\---

Dawn breaks and Suga finally emerges from the tent, every inch of him drooping with fatigue. But he also looks relieved, his eyes victorious as he looks for Daichi outside the tent.

"I thought I told you to go get some sleep," Suga says once his eyes land on him.

"How are they?" Daichi asks, rising from his crouch.

"Much better, thanks to the coneflowers you guys brought back. It's still going to take them a day or two to get back on their feet but we now know what to give them to get them there."

"That's good to hear." Daichi breathes out a sigh of relief.

"Good job, leader." Suga punches him in the chest lightly, smiling. "And good job, Hinata and Tanaka."

"Now I'm exhausted." Daichi drops back onto the ground, running his hands through his hair and pressing his palms against his closed eyelids. "I never want to go out in the forest at night ever again."

"With any luck, you won't have to. We sleep at night." Suga reassures him. "How did you get all the way to owl territory on your own anyway?"

Daichi looks up at him from between his fingers. "I didn't."

Suga raises an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

"Not alone anyway." Daichi amends, getting back on his feet. "Kuroo came with me."

Suga's eyebrows nearly disappear into his hair. "Kuroo? That's helpful of him, but were you ever on that good terms with him?"

"Things are," Daichi fumbles, racking his brains for a word. "Fine between us."

"Well." Suga's eyebrows lower slightly. "I should congratulate Kuroo then."

"What?"

"He's always" —Suga gives him a long, measured look before he continues— "been particularly attached to you."

"What is that even supposed to mean?"

"It's exactly as I said." Suga shrugs, turning away as Ennoshita and Narita arrive and heading back into the tent. "I'm going to get Shimizu and we're finally going to get some sleep. You should get some rest too, Daichi."

That sounds like a good plan of action and Daichi fully intends to follow through on it as he walks away from the tent, leaving Suga's parting words for another time. But his legs carry him back out of camp instead of the tent he was supposed to be returning to, fatigue weighing down on him as he pushes past the undergrowth.

The sun has started to rise, bringing with it the first pale colours of morning and lightening the forest around him. Standing out against it all, Daichi sees a dark, lanky figure leaning against the trunk of a tree, straightening up as Daichi heads towards him.

"How are they?" Kuroo asks as soon as Daichi comes within reach of him.

"They'll recover. Suga says that they'll be up on their feet in a couple of days."

"That's great," Kuroo says, the concern on his face giving way to relief.

In the light of morning, Kuroo is more than a lithe shadow in the dark, leading the way through the forest, and Daichi sees that his clothes are disheveled, the hems of his pants ragged and his feet stained with mud and grass. His hair hangs limply over one eye, his eyelids heavy with unfulfilled sleep, and Daichi realises that he looks just like him. All that frantic running around in the night had taken its toll on the both of them and Kuroo looks just as dead on his feet as Daichi feels.

Despite that, Kuroo had not gone back to his camp, waiting for Daichi out here in the forest like he had known that Daichi would come looking for him. And Daichi _had_.

"Thank you," Daichi says, the words bubbling up and out of him without meaning to. But it feels right and he lets it hang in the air between them without trying to take it back.

Kuroo fights back a yawn as he says, "You should be thanking Bokuto and Akaashi."

"I will, but this one is for you. I think it's long overdue."

Kuroo looks surprised but it only lasts for a fleeting moment before his lips curve up in a smile. Daichi had not known that Kuroo could look like that, the corners of his lips soft and pleased like he had not expected that at all. It makes something in Daichi's chest leap, a sudden jolt of emotion that feels a lot like surprise, and Daichi sucks in a breath of air, trying to even out his heartbeat.

"You know, Sawamura, you're not alone in this forest," Kuroo tells him, his smile giving way to a smirk, something Daichi was more used to dealing with.

Daichi exhales. He feels back to normal, if not a bit more than exhausted, and he figures that he should probably get back to camp soon. "I know that. It's a big forest."

"And you haven't even seen half of it," Kuroo says, his eyes teasing.

"I've only been here for less than two months," Daichi says defensively. "Give it some time and I'll be able to navigate this forest way better than you."

"That's your excuse for now," Kuroo says. "What are you going to say when I find you lost in the forest even after half a year?"

"Then you shut up and help me back," Daichi grumbles. "That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

Kuroo misses the next cue for a reply, the flow of conversation between them dropping to an abrupt halt. Daichi glances up at Kuroo and Kuroo blinks. "Did you just—"

"Yes." Daichi cuts him off, feeling his face heat up. He was hoping that Kuroo would skip right over it instead of doing exactly what he was doing now and fixating on what he just said.

"Wow, I can't believe—"

"Go back to your own camp, Kuroo," Daichi says loudly. "Get some sleep."

"Can I come back later?" Kuroo asks, pushing himself away from the tree trunk. It brings him in close to Daichi for one dizzying second and Daichi looks up into flashing teeth, the same old smirk, his eyes alight with excitement. It is a horrible clash, just like Kuroo Tetsurou himself, who was equal parts annoying and kind, who meddled too much in the affairs of tribes that were not his, who had stuck fast to Daichi the first time he laid eyes on him at the border.

Daichi thinks about it for all of one second before he says, "Yes."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Will there or will there not be a sequel where I get to use the tag "Friends to Lovers" stay tuned to find out
> 
> (school is kicking my ass now though orz)
> 
> Find me here: [tumblr](http://kythen.tumblr.com) / [twitter](http://twitter.com/catcrowcalls)


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